Customer Reviews

Dirty Japanese: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" (Dirty Everyday Slang)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Well...seemingly this book has many funny Japanese words listed on it.
I'm a Japanese girl living in Japan, I read a few pages of this book and I found it very funny. However, some Japanese words/phrases in this book are not exactly correct. About 90% of them are correct, but 10 of them are not like the same as correct Japanese which Japanese's actually using. They are "Foreigner's Japanese", "Gaijin-no-Nihongo".

It's funny though, but also gives us some impression that she/he is not fluent in Japanese so much.

You know, Japanese people always say "Your Japanese is so great!" or "Sugoiiii~" when you speak a little bit of Japanese, but that doesn't really mean you are really good at speaking in Japanese. Yes, it's true when Japanese say "It's great" it is actually NOT great. But they say something like this to make people feel relieved.

It's "Honne to Tatemae", which means say some thing positively but we actually do not think it is really positive or we think it bad actually.

Anyways, I recommend to buy Japanese books which is written in Japanese authors.

I am a student of the Japanese language so I bought a copy of "Dirty Japanese" thinking it would nicely round out my education, which is mostly from staid textbooks. Well, I showed it to a bunch of my Japanese friends, and they were laughing their a**es off at the extent to which many of the phrases in the book were either inaccurate or simply dated. I admit this book is somewhat humorous to read even if you don't speak Japanese at all, but beware, you might not be learning anything useful by reading it.

I have a fairly large collection of Japanese language textbooks (many of which I've bought at Amazon over the years). Much to my surprise, I've found that I consistently use all of them and none of them collect much dust.

However, with this particular title, I've finally found a real dud among my Japanese language learning texts.

The biggest problem is the lack of an index (which pretty much means that, while some people may find the book funny to thumb through, they won't find it useful as a reference book).

The second big problem is that the author injects far too much of himself into the book. He very loudly and aggressively wants us all to know that he is the hippest person to ever walk the streets of Japan.

That, combined with his endless, jarring hip hop/street slang is very distracting and annoying (it was annoying enough almost two decades ago when the middle-class Vanilla Ice tried to convince us he came from the 'hood; it's even more annoying now).

I would also fault the author's grasp of the Japanese language. His "English" translations of a lot of phrases include many expletives that simply aren't there in the original Japanese text.

Last, but not least, is that the author doesn't seem very well informed about Japan. He informs us that Japanese cops don't carry guns (not true) and that they're the biggest jerks in the world. The fact is, if the Tokyo police were indeed "jerks" to the author, he richly deserved it (as he gleefully spends much of the book talking about all the fights and reckless trouble that he got into while in Japan). For the record, I've visited Japan and found it to the safest, most peaceful nation I've ever seen. The Japanese people are some of the most polite folks on earth--but you'd think they were all a bunch of violent thugs after reading this book.

The world still needs a good comprehensive reference book that rounds up Japan's trendy language and street slang. This book isn't it.

I wanted to learn some Japanese slang. I have about ten different Japanese phrasebooks and dictionaries that I use very often. [ By that, I mean daily. ] This book is NOT one of them! The author seemed like just some guy who thought he'd try to brag about going to Japan.. So that was distracting enough. But I bought this before I really knew the difference between female and male sentence-ending particles. He never explained which gender said what. Now that I know, I'm even more angry that most of it that wasn't gross was meant for men only. So, if you're a man who isn't a complete jerk, or if you're just some chick who loves the Japanese language, like me, do not get this book. The only phrases for women make us all look bad!

I have often pointed out the importance of letting the locals know I bothered trying to learn something of their language when I visit - even if I know English is widely spoken. I will usually memorize a few of the essentials phrases and courtesies and then pull my trusty crash course language pamphlet and shamelessly plow ahead. I have butchered many a thank you and salutation. Fortunately, what I lack in language skills I make up for in polite sheepishness and hopeful confusion peppered with my genuine joy of traveling. Most people find my attempts endearing or don't mind because it is obvious that I am really trying. Still language is not my forte.

Over the years, I have amassed a tall pile of foreign language dictionaries and quickie guides: Easy German, French in 20 easy lessons, Instant Swahili. I have them all. So when I saw Dirty Japanese I couldn't resist the prospect of, well, dirty Japanese. While my days of speaking outrageously have naturally curbed over the years, the curiosity may never leave.

Dirty Japanese is a quick and lean read filled with a wide variety of slang set in a variety of situations, which surprisingly is much more than a lump of generic dictionary definitions all bound together. It offers the writer's insights into practical Japanese culture using humor and keen observation. This book made me laugh out loud and reminisce longingly about my own experiences in Japan. I need to go back!

While I can't really fathom diving into this book and practicing the time-honored tradition of learning only the dirty words of any language for its own sake, I can attest to the commentary by author Fargo as entertaining and worth perusal. Moreover, I have a few Japanese friends and will be trying out my `new' language essentials.

Matt Fargo has a Masters in Japanese lit, so he knows his stuff. I am not sure what he was thinking when he applied for grad school (seems like an impossible subject), but his book is a lot of fun and more importantly there is a lot more here than just `Dirty Japanese.'

In terms of practice, this book would really only benefit a reader with more than minimal Japanese. It would benefit someone with the basics and someone who has some close Japanese friends with a sense of humor as to not offend. Wisely, the author deftly covers this topic as well.

I will be bringing this little book along with me on my next visit to Japan.

Wow, what a great book! It's more of a handbook, but wow, this little fellow sure carries a lot of information! I know Japanese, and the only thing that I was missing was the informal/slang part, and this book certainly covers it all! Not only that, but it increased my vocabulary a lot, I wouldn't have dream of knowing how to say the different types of breasts or "dicks," but thanks to this book I know them! This is a really good handbook, easy to carry around, well organized and with a huge amount of info. Totally recommended!

You read in an hour, never forget what you read and laugh a lot.
Beware of not using what you learn with your sensei.
Even you aren't the fond-of dirty talking guy you will appreciate the best travelbook I have ever read

"Dirty Japanese" is hilarious! It covers a WIDE array of slang topics in such a tiny book; some chapters are tame while others are so explicit like 'Horny Japanese' that I was embarrassed to actually say some of the phrases. It's a fun, quick read with up-to-date Japanese slang. I had previously bought 'Making out in Japanese' and found the Japanese outdated and the phrases lacking. I really recommend "Dirty Japanese" to anyone that wants a great, comprehensive - and of course DIRTY - Japanese slang guide.

I got this book for a trip I took to Japan to visit a friend who works in Tokyo. I wasn't sure at first if it would be any good, but it turned out to be perfect. I memorized some phrases on the plane ride over and tried them on some Japanese business men I was meeting -- they laughed super hard and bought me sake. And then I met this girl my friend works with, and I used the dating lines on her -- SMOOTH. I hung out with her for the rest of the trip. I've already bought a copy for my buddy who works there. You HAVE to read this book.

I'm Japanese, and I had a good look through most of the pages.
Some are wrong, most are correct, and most are very creative and make you lol.
This is not a book for ppl to learn Japanese.
It is simply just for fun, all or most of this book is slang so do not buy this book for academic reasons.
I would recommend it to ppl who want to talk to Japanese teenagers.
Do not use this kind of language to ppl who are older than 30.
If you do, be prepared to get karate chopped.

All in all, it's a very good, creative book.